Mythic beast or just a cat?

Melbourne Zoo's public relations chief yesterday declared the silly season open as senior animal keepers were called in to analyse images of yet another mystery cat seen near the Grampians.

Zoo staff take every sighting of unusual creatures seriously, just in case the fabled American puma or the Tasmanian tiger are discovered in Victoria. Legend has it that decades ago an American circus, or American airmen stationed in the bush who supposedly kept big cats as mascots, released the creatures into the wild, and that their numbers have since multiplied.

This year, 38 sightings of suspected big cats have been recorded by the 50-member Australian Rare Fauna Research Association.

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If the rare animals did exist, the zoo keepers would like to know, said Judith Henke, the Melbourne Zoo's communications manager.

Senior keeper Noel Harcourt and the keeper in charge of carnivores, Richard Roswell, examined the shaky video recording of the latest sighting taken by campers at Dunkeld - and sold to Channel Seven for an undisclosed sum.

The video shows a large black cat running through open pasture and encountering a kangaroo. But it was too small, ran too fast and looked too much like a regular cat to be anything more exotic, the keepers said.

And that's if you ignore the fact that the kangaroo finally appeared to hop after the cat, suggesting a degree of familiarity.

"There are so many people who keep releasing cats, it's a huge problem for wildlife," Mr Roswell said.

Ms Henke said such sightings were examined about three times a year by keepers. "They're patient souls," she said.